Emerging Technologies....They Might Have Cured Cancer….Also Leaf Blower Silencers!

[China]

ELON MUSK FORCED TO WATCH HISTORIC SPACEX LAUNCH FROM HOME AND MOCKED AS ‘SPACE KAREN’ AFTER CATCHING COVID

 

SpaceX boss Elon Musk was forced to miss his firm’s historic rocket launch after testing positive for Covid-19.

 

Four astronauts were blasted into orbit aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday night, marking the company’s first fully-fledged crewed mission to the International Space Station.

 

Mr Musk, who is usually present during major launches, could not attend after receiving two positive coronavirus tests and exhibiting minor symptoms of the virus.

 

Nasa rules forbid anyone from entering their facilities following a positive test, no matter what their position or role.

 

“When somebody tests positive for Covid, here at the Kennedy Space Center and across Nasa it is our policy for that person to quarantine and self isolate,” Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine said ahead of the launch.

 

Mr Musk had previously questioned the legitimacy of the results, claiming that he had tested both positive and negative for Covid-19 on Thursday.

 

“Something extremely bogus is going on,” he tweeted. “Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Mr. Sinister]

Seems like a swell fella.

[China]

Thank god I don't have to go to meetings anymore:

 

Microsoft files patent to record and score meetings on body language

 

Technology giant Microsoft has filed a patent for a system to monitor employees' body language and facial expressions during work meetings and give the events a "quality score".

 

A filing suggests it could be deployed in real-world meetings or online virtual get-togethers.

 

It envisions rooms being packed with sensors to monitor the participants, which could raise privacy concerns.

 

Microsoft is already under fire over a separate "productivity-score" tool.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Elon Musk: Dig tunnels as solution for traffic jams in this Florida city

 

As a solution to Miami’s notoriously congested traffic, Tesla Inc. founder Elon Musk is proposing to dig tunnels with The Boring Company, one of his many business ventures. Experts say the idea would be costly and is fraught with engineering obstacles, but it’s not outright crazy.

 

Musk, who also founded SpaceX and Neuralink, tweeted that he spoke with Gov. Ron DeSantis about the idea earlier this month.

 

“If Governor & Mayor want this done, we will do it,” Musk tweeted. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, a Republican, described the idea as a “no brainer” and replied, “we would love to be the prototype city.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Las Vegas is already the prototype city...

[PleaseBlitz]

Gen Z’s high-speed rail meme dream, explained

 

Quote

Gen Z isn’t the first group of young, online voters to care about transit. But they represent a culmination of trends that have been building in younger Americans: less interest in cars as status symbols, more interest in environmentally friendly transit methods.

The popularity of the high-speed rail map meme builds on years of similar conversation, some of it in the Facebook group New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens (Numtot), first created in 2017 and now serving as a “haven for people who love trains,” as administrator Emily Orenstein described it. The meme, and high-speed rail more generally, are popular topics with the group’s more than 200,000 users, its three administrators say, because it allows them to dream big.

 

“I love the high-speed rail map image because I think a lot of urban planning and urbanism today, especially in the United States, is so devoid of inspiration because it’s so beaten down by so-called pragmatism, labor costs, legal issues, things like that,” said Jonathan Marty, a Numtot administrator who goes to Columbia University. “The high-speed rail thing, the map that circulates a lot, it touches people because it’s this genuinely bold and tangible image of the future. People can feel that.”

 

In addition, high-speed rail is a blunt example of just how behind the US is. After the 2008 global financial crisis, China, in particular, made massive investments into high-speed rail, building over 15,000 miles of rail lines that service more than 1.7 billion passengers yearly, according to the World Bank. And the high-speed TGV in France, for example, goes 200 miles per hour.

 

“At that speed, you could get from New York City to Chicago in about four hours,” Juliet Eldred, a Numtot co-founder and transit planner, said. “The current train is about 20 hours. That makes me viscerally enraged.”

 

High-speed rail also checks a lot of boxes for the young left that’s interested in traveling but conscious of its carbon-intensive consequences. As Vox’s Umair Irfan explained, “high-speed trains run on electricity, which is only as clean as the generators that produce it,” but it’s definitely less carbon-intensive than flying

 

 

[d0ublestr0ker0ll]

I'm takin the Blue line, getting on the Red line in Chi town, then hoppin on the Blue south to the homeland.

[TradeTheBeal!]

[Captain Wiggles]

I traveled on the ICE train from DC to Philly back in 93. Probably the only high speed rail I'll ever get to travel on. 😒

[China]

Tesla privately admits Elon Musk has been exaggerating about ‘full self-driving’

 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been overstating the capabilities of the company’s advanced driver assist system, the company’s director of Autopilot software told the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The comments came from a memo released by legal transparency group PlainSite, which obtained the documents from a public records request.

 

It was the latest revelation about the widening gap between what Musk says publicly about Autopilot and what Autopilot can actually do. And it coincides with Tesla coming under increased scrutiny after a Tesla vehicle without anyone in the driver’s seat crashed in Texas, killing two men.

 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been overstating the capabilities of the company’s advanced driver assist system, the company’s director of Autopilot software told the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The comments came from a memo released by legal transparency group PlainSite, which obtained the documents from a public records request.

 

It was the latest revelation about the widening gap between what Musk says publicly about Autopilot and what Autopilot can actually do. And it coincides with Tesla coming under increased scrutiny after a Tesla vehicle without anyone in the driver’s seat crashed in Texas, killing two men.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

[China]

Researchers Boost Performance of Solar Cells By Using Human Hair From a Barbershop

 

Researchers have used carbon dots, created from human hair waste sourced from a barbershop, to create a kind of ‘armor’ to improve the performance of cutting-edge solar technology.

 

In a study, the researchers led by Professor Hongxia Wang in collaboration with Associate Professor Prashant Sonar of QUT’s Centre for Materials Science showed the carbon nanodots could be used to improve the performance of perovskites solar cells.

 

Perovskites solar cells, a relatively new photovoltaic technology, are seen as the best PV candidate to deliver low-cost, highly efficient solar electricity in coming years. They have proven to be as effective in power conversion efficiency as the current commercially available monocrystalline silicon solar cells, but the hurdles for researchers in this area is to make the technology cheaper and more stable.

 

Unlike silicon cells, they are created with a compound that is easily manufactured, and as they are flexible they could be used in scenarios such as solar-powered clothing, backpacks that charge your devices on the go and even tents that could serve as standalone power sources.

 

This is the second major piece of research to come as a result of a human hair derived carbon dots as multifunctional material.

 

Last year, Associate Professor Prashant Sonar led a research team, including Centre for Materials Science research fellow Amandeep Singh Pannu, that turned hair scraps into carbon nanodots by breaking down the hairs and then burning them at 240 degrees celsius. In that study, the researchers showed the carbon dots could be turned into flexible displays that could be used in future smart devices.

 

In this new study, published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A , Professor Wang’s research team, including Dr Ngoc Duy Pham, and Mr Pannu, working with Professor Prashant Sonar’s group, used the carbon nanodots on perovskite solar cells out of curiosity. Professor Wang’s team had previously found that nanostructured carbon materials could be used to improve a cell’s performance.

 

After adding a solution of carbon dots into the process of making the perovskites, Professor Wang’s team found the carbon dots forming a wave-like perovskite layer where the perovskite crystals are surrounded by the carbon dots.

 

“It creates a kind of protective layer, a kind of armour,” Professor Wang said.

 

“It protects the perovskite material from moisture or other environmental factors, which can cause damage to the materials.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

[GoCommiesGo]

I'm reading about the F-150 Lightning and I'm impressed. Frunk is huge, the ability to have an onboard "generator" and the towing features are great. 

 

I had an early deposit on a Cyber Truck but I'm going to change it to the F-150. Looks like Ford has a real honest to god chance to move truck buyers electric. It's eligible for the $7,500 tax credit and starts under 40k is huge for initial adoption. 

[Barry.Randolphe]

I'd like to see an electric Ford Bronco....that would be a seller for me and I hate Ford  

[Hersh]

3 hours ago, China said:

 

 

So just like a bus?

16 minutes ago, Barry.Randolphe said:

I'd like to see an electric Ford Bronco....that would be a seller for me and I hate Ford  

 

I want Jeep to get with it and put out an electric wrangler and not that hybrid crap. 

[Captain Wiggles]

[Barry.Randolphe]

11 minutes ago, Hersh said:

 

So just like a bus?

 

 

 maybe DC can replace the H Street streetcar with that type of technology all over the city....it'd be kind of cool having trackless streetcars running around DC connecting different parts of the city to metro stations

 

First place I'd put something like that is from Eastern Market south along Barracks Row, passing the Navy Yard on M Street, and then down to the Wharf. 

[Dan T.]

3 minutes ago, Barry.Randolphe said:

 

 maybe DC can replace the H Street streetcar with that type of technology all over the city....it'd be kind of cool having trackless streetcars running around DC connecting different parts of the city to metro stations

 

First place I'd put something like that is from Eastern Market south along Barracks Row, passing the Navy Yard on M Street, and then down to the Wharf. 

 

 

That'd be another way to get to Nats Park.

[Dan T.]

Good article in the Atlantic about the Ford Lightning pickup as a game-changer:

 

The Ford Electric F-150 Lightning's Astonishing Price - The Atlantic

 

 

[CousinsCowgirl84]

10 hours ago, China said:

 

this isn’t that incredible. They have bus trains now, and there are many “lane keeping” “autopilot” features...

6 hours ago, Dan T. said:

Good article in the Atlantic about the Ford Lightning pickup as a game-changer:

 

The Ford Electric F-150 Lightning's Astonishing Price - The Atlantic

 

 

impressive work ford has done. 230 miles epa is probably around 180 miles real life. If you are towing anything then you can probably half that range. 

 

So 90 miles at least in a worst case scenerio is still pretty good. Good enough to make to a dc fast charging station....

 

only thing Ford and other companies don’t have that Tesla does is a charging network, so you have to pay twice as much to charge...

 

At least the truck looks like a truck and will be about 10-15k less than Cybertruck... not going to cancel my cybertruck preorder for this but there a lot of people curious about EVs but want to buy from an established manufacturer, Ford fits the bill. All my non EV vehicles are fords....
 

 

Edited May 21, 2021 by CousinsCowgirl84

[PokerPacker]

7 minutes ago, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

At least the truck looks like a truck and will be about 10-15k less than Cybertruck...

You say that as if the Cybertruck isn't the most beautiful truck to be sculpted.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

4 minutes ago, PokerPacker said:

You say that as if the Cybertruck isn't the most beautiful truck to be sculpted.

It’s cool but some people want a truck and not a Dorito on wheels.....

[PokerPacker]

Just now, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

It’s cool but some people want a truck and not a Dorito on wheels.....

The wedge was one of the most effective weapons on Battle Bots.

[CousinsCowgirl84]

13 minutes ago, PokerPacker said:

The wedge was one of the most effective weapons on Battle Bots.

 

i still want to know what they were smoking...

 

 

after further review, it seems like the base model of the f150 lighting will be unobtainium and if you want one expect to get the XLT trim, which as the same range but has more “stuff” and sells for 52K. Meh. More than the cybertruck but less range.

Edited May 21, 2021 by CousinsCowgirl84

[China]

Elon Musk hopes to colonise Mars. But first he must overcome a problem on THIS planet – furious families who say his spacecraft are ruining their peaceful homes

 

There cannot be many more idyllic spots for those seeking the quiet life than Boca Chica, which sits on one of the most unspoilt beaches in the United States beside a wildlife refuge, 20 miles from the nearest town. 

 

A hand-printed sign on a black barrel by the road points the way to the little village – a cluster of 35 bungalows amid mesquite and palm trees.

 

Little wonder Celia Johnson and Cheryl Stevens fell in love with it as children, enjoying days out with their families, then, decades later, choosing it as the perfect spot for a peaceful retirement. They watched bobcats and coyotes stroll down the street, porpoises glide through the Bay of Mexico waters, and numerous bird species nesting by the mudflats.

But things are different now. For billionaire tycoon Elon Musk has picked their remote slice of paradise as the base for launching missions to the Moon and Mars, declaring that he is 'creating the city of Starbase' in this pristine corner of Texas.

 

So now there is a giant rocket nose cone sitting at one end of their street, alongside towering cranes, fuel silos and gantries under construction. A silver starship looms over the beach, shimmering in the sun as it reaches into the skies.

 

The village is sandwiched between two fast-expanding developments – one for the launch-pad for the missions that Musk believes may one day save humanity, and the other for the bustling production facilities filled with his SpaceX staff.

 

The streets are packed with lorries, on the kerb sits debris from rockets that have exploded, tourists throng to see the site, the beach is sometimes closed off, the road is blocked, sirens wail and residents are routinely evacuated before launches in case another test flight goes wrong.

 

'It's not just that we did not want this in our back yard – they stopped us using our own back yard,' said Stevens, 60, a store manager.

 

She ditched her dream, and along with some other residents, accepted SpaceX's persistent offer to buy her home, and moved out in October.

 

But Johnson is among ten rebel residents in this battle for Boca Chica who are determined to resist the pressure to leave.

 

Click on the link for the full article